Saturday, September 29, 2018
For most of its history, jazz has been a macho culture. Sexual ambiguity or gay-ness were subjects of derision.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 05:18PMFriday, September 21, 2018
The Window contains an inspired pairing -- between singer Cécile McLorin Salvant and pianist-organist Sullivan Fortner.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 11:18AMTuesday, August 28, 2018
Arts Fuse Jazz critic Steve Provizer responds to Dale Chapman's book The Jazz Bubble: Neoclassical Jazz in a Neoliberal Culture.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 10:54AMWednesday, August 22, 2018
Trumpeter Arturo Sandoval is a big personality and in this performance he was almost as much raconteur, comedian and ringmaster as musician.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 01:42PMWednesday, August 15, 2018
Although his choice of material doesn't always work for me, for my money, Kurt Elling is the most important jazz vocalist of the last twenty years.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 12:18PMTuesday, August 7, 2018
The author of this Sonny Rollins bio promises us “A Journey into his World of Spirituality” -- and that sets high expectations.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 02:18PMSunday, July 29, 2018
Vocalist Allegra Levy is at her strongest when purveying certain specific moods -- melancholy, playful, even lightly ironic.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 11:54AMTuesday, July 3, 2018
Lionel Loueke is a unique voice, who has managed to bring a number of influences together without weakening or undermining any of them.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 10:54AMFor the moment, it is refreshing to see how carefully the music is being recorded and packaged.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 10:54AMWednesday, June 20, 2018
At this time in the Boston jazz scene, there are no ongoing spaces for big bands and, predictably, the number of such ensembles has shrunk.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 10:33AMTuesday, May 29, 2018
While perhaps not more than the sum of its parts -- that would be hard to imagine -- the music on this tribute disc has its own vitality and stands well on its own.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 02:06PMThursday, May 24, 2018
Singer Allan Harris clearly loves Eddie Jefferson's music and performs it with sincerity and chops.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 03:48PMMonday, May 21, 2018
For my taste, some of the songs on Kurt Elling's The Questions simply aren’t challenging or interesting enough.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 10:48AMWednesday, May 16, 2018
A listener's response to this album would largely depend on whether or not the sound of Jeff Denson’s voice and the instrumentation strike a chord.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 12:24PMMonday, May 14, 2018
"It seemed worthwhile to me to think about how the spiritual currents Billie Holiday navigated might have shaped her life and her sound and what she and others made of them."
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 09:04AMThursday, May 10, 2018
The players are striking out into the unknown: you may find the journey inspiring and you may sometimes find yourself lost in the woods.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 08:06AMSunday, April 29, 2018
The Boston Symphony Chamber Players gave a very satisfying performance of eclectic musical material.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 08:18PMSaturday, April 28, 2018
As part of its 150th anniversary celebration, NEC commissioned Anthony Coleman to compose a large-scale work he has named Streams.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 09:18AMMonday, April 23, 2018
The motto on the Morningside Music Studios web site is “keep the groove in your life.” Words to live by.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 08:36AMSaturday, April 21, 2018
Local music venues -- especially those with “off” music like jazz -- are caught in a vice, with real estate escalation on one side and corporate-dominated digital technology on the other.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 10:24AMSunday, April 15, 2018
The Rosenbergs is small in scope but large in ambition; it is an accomplished and moving opera that demands attention.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 01:38PMSaturday, April 14, 2018
Singer Fred Farell brings an introspective sensibility to this album and has gathered a group of songs that are appropriate for his introverted and quietly aspirational lyrics.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 01:44PMSaturday, March 24, 2018
Toward the Unknown is a well-wrought, well-rendered recording — one worthy of serious attention.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 11:22AMThursday, March 22, 2018
Jazz singer Mark Murphy was just too much for most audiences during that period; too intense, too varied, too unpredictable.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 05:55PMTuesday, March 13, 2018
The communication among the group members is at a high level and the playing is flawless.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 07:53PMFriday, March 9, 2018
Bob Brookmeyer's great contribution was to make it seem as though anything is possible -- and permissible --in the big band context.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 10:03AMWednesday, March 7, 2018
The music on Accent's album is lovely and the singers render the arrangements with skill and commitment.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 05:43PMMonday, March 5, 2018
Singer Sara Serpa refracts, bends, suspends, and shifts the sounds and syllables, creating a kind of linguistic limbo.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 10:29PMTuesday, February 27, 2018
There was an easy depth to the music, if such is possible, as if the musicians were digging in hard, but with the relaxed assurance that comes of a shared vision.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 09:28AMWednesday, February 21, 2018
I’ve never run across music like this and never had even a platonic notion of what such a hybrid would sound like.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 10:40AM 
